Monday’s Mini-Report, 2.12.18

* What volatility looks like: “U.S. stocks surged Monday recovering from some of the wreckage left by two weeks of brutal trading that wiped out trillions of dollars in market value.”

* Following up on Friday night’s news: “The Justice Department’s No. 3 attorney had been unhappy with her job for months before the department announced her departure on Friday, according to multiple sources close to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand.”

* Harvey Rishikof: “Before his sudden firing last week, the Pentagon official who oversaw military commission trials at Guantánamo Bay was exploring potential plea deals to end the long-delayed prosecution of five suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks, a move that would foreclose the possibility of execution, according to several people familiar with the matter.”

* This is one of those behind-the-scenes stories that will have a real impact: “The Trump administration has adopted new limits on the use of ‘guidance documents’ that federal agencies have issued on almost every conceivable subject, an action that could have sweeping implications for the government’s ability to sue companies accused of violations.”

* I remember when Candidate Trump said his administration would champion the interests of the LGBT community: “The Education Department has told BuzzFeed News it won’t investigate or take action on any complaints filed by transgender students who are banned from restrooms that match their gender identity, charting new ground in the Trump administration’s year-long broadside against LGBT rights.”

* Sinclair Broadcast Group “is asking its executives – including the news directors at its many stations – to contribute to its political action committee, a move that journalism ethics experts say is highly unusual and troubling.”

* Remember, Trump has expressed support for this guy: “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told soldiers last week to shoot female rebels in their genitals, the latest of several violent, misogynistic remarks.”

* The other memo: “Sen. Tim Kaine is demanding that the White House release a secret memo outlining President Donald Trump’s interpretation of his legal basis to wage war.”

* I will never yield in my support for the Oxford comma: “Ending a case that electrified punctuation pedants, grammar goons and comma connoisseurs, Oakhurst Dairy settled an overtime dispute with its drivers that hinged entirely on the lack of an Oxford comma in state law. The dairy company in Portland, Me., agreed to pay $5 million to the drivers, according to court documents filed on Thursday.”